Slicing machine for foods

ABSTRACT

A slicing machine for foods includes a circular knife with a peripheral cutting edge mounted rotatingly in a substantially vertical position on a machine housing. The knife defines a substantially vertical cutting plane. A knife protection ring is secured to the machine housing and surrounds a substantial portion of the cutting edge. A carriage for receiving a product to be cut is mounted on the housing on one side of the cutting plane for reciprocating movement in a direction parallel to the cutting plane. A scraper is arranged on an opposite side of the cutting plane to cover part of a face of the circular knife. The scraper is mounted pivotably about a pivot axis defined by a pivot bearing so as to be pivotable from an operating position to a cleaning position. The pivot axis is arranged above the center of the circular knife essentially horizontal and parallel to the cutting plane.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a slicing machine for foods with a machinehousing, a circular knife mounted rotatingly therein, a knife protectionring secured to the machine housing, a carriage for receiving a productto be cut displaceable back and forth along the circular knife and ascraper means arranged on the opposite side of the circular knife andpivotable away from the circular knife.

The purpose of a scraper means on a slicing machine for cold meats is,on the one hand, to remove food remains adhering to the knife and, onthe other hand, to deflect the cut slices of food in a favorable anglewith respect to the circular knife and the machine housing as well asset them down by means of the force of gravity directly afterwards orafter further transport over additional conveying elements.

Since this scraper means comes into contact with the food (e.g. coldmeats) to be cut and, in addition, cut remains are deposited in the gapbetween circular knife and scraper means, it is necessary to clean thisarea more frequently in order to meet requirements of hygiene. This is,however, only possible when the scraper means is separated from theknife such that it is easily accessible from all sides.

DE-PS 604 898 discloses a scraper means for a slicing machine which ismounted on a vertical carrier pin and can be adjusted in its positionhorizontally and vertically. For cleaning, the scraper means must beremoved completely from the slicing machine after loosening of asetscrew.

The published German patent application Sch 15 441 III 66 b discloses ascraper means consisting of transparent material which is pivotallymounted by means of a hinge secured vertically on the machine housing.The scraper means is pivoted away from the knife for cleaning and heldin the scraping position by a resilient clamping device.

The known solutions have the disadvantage that the cleaning, which mustbe undertaken very frequently on slicing machines for reasons ofhygiene, can be carried out only with difficulty or inadequately. Thereason for this is that the attachment or locking means and the pivotbearing of the scraper means have recesses, corners, grooves and gapswhich are hard to reach, and the scraper means is not easily accessibleon all sides for cleaning even in its position pivoted away from theknife. Moreover, it is disadvantageous that all the parts are located inthe main area of soiling, i.e. in the zone of the slicing machinetouching the food. In this respect, the removal or pivoting away of thescraper means from the knife for the purpose of cleaning is alsotime-consuming or complicated.

The object of the invention is to mount the scraper means on a genericslicing machine such that, for the cleaning of the slicing machine, itcan easily be moved away from the circular knife with a manual movementinto the cleaning position, in which it is accessible from all sides andat the same time remains connected to the machine.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object is accomplished by the invention in the case of a genericslicing machine in that the scraper means is mounted so as to bepivotable upwards out of its operating position into a cleaning positionabout a pivot axis of a pivot bearing which is located above the centralaxis of the circular knife, is essentially horizontal and arrangedparallel to the cutting plane of the circular knife.

Additional developments of the invention are disclosed.

The advantages to be achieved with the invention in its variousembodiments are to be seen, in particular, in the fact that the scrapermeans is pivotable away from the knife into the cleaning position with asimple manual movement and in this position is well accessible from allsides and easy to clean. Moreover, it remains connected to the machineand cannot, therefore, become lost. Also, an optimum adjustment istherefore permanently maintained. A false position of the scraper means,i.e. in cleaning position instead of operating position at the beginningof a slicing process, is immediately noticed because the scraper meansis thereby conspicuously arranged at an obvious place and projectingfreely upwards.

Additional features and advantages of the invention are to be seen inthe following: The scraper means takes up a stable position in itscleaning position. This is brought about by a pivoting of the center ofgravity of the scraper means beyond the vertical, as well as, whereapplicable, by an additional brake spring element which is provided inthe pivot bearing of the scraper means. The latter prevents theuncontrolled falling back of the scraper means in any arbitraryintermediate position within its pivoting range of approximately 180°.This means that any possible risk of accidents, e.g. pinching thefingers, is avoided.

The scraper means can be returned to its operating position again with asimple manual movement, wherein this position is fixed by a self-actingsnap closure and the compressive force occurring during the deflectionof the cut slice can be positively cushioned via a fixing groove.

The distance of the scraper means from the circular knife can beadjusted exactly to a very small value by means of an adjusting screw.This is brought about by the position of the adjusting screw in theimmediate vicinity of the cutting edge of the circular knife and of ascraper lip of the scraper means. This means that any drawing in ofsmall cut remains and, following this, an uncontrolled catapulting ofthese cut remains away from the knife circumference is avoided.Moreover, the cutting of very thin slices is advantageously achieved bythe likewise close setting of the deflector contour of the scrapermeans.

The favorable external shape of the scraper means without any poorlyaccessible corners, as well as the sealed design of the pivot bearingand of the snap closure prevent, on the one hand, the adherence ofremains from the product to be cut and, on the other hand, facilitatecleaning.

The following description of preferred embodiments of the inventionserves to explain the invention in greater detail in conjunction withthe attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a diagrammatic front view of a slicing machine for foods;

FIG. 2 shows a partial front view of the slicing machine from FIG. 1 inthe region of a circular knife;

FIG. 3 shows a side view in the direction of arrow "X" in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows an enlarged section of a pivot bearing of a scraper meansshown in FIG. 3 and

FIG. 5 shows a sectional view along the line A--A in FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The slicing machine 1 for foods, e.g. cold meats, cheese, ham or thelike, illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises a machine housing 2, in which acircular knife 3 driven by a motor is mounted for rotation. The hub 4 ofa knife protection ring 5 in the shape of a spoked wheel is stationarilyattached to the machine housing 2 and, for safety reasons, this ringencloses the circumferential edge of the circular knife 3 in a ringshape with the exception of the front cutting region 6. A stop plate 7extending parallel to the cutting plane of the circular knife 3 foradjusting the slice thickness relative to the cutting plane is arrangedin the cutting region 6 so as to be adjustable. A carriage 8 forreceiving a product to be cut (not illustrated) is displaceable back andforth along the circular knife 3 parallel to the cutting plane. Theproduct to be cut is fed to the rotating circular knife 3 lying on thecarriage 8 and cut into slices while abutting against the stop place 7.During the cutting process, the slices are engaged by a scraper means 9,which lies closely against the circular knife 3 and is arranged oppositethe carriage 8, and deflected by this away from the circular knife 3 andmachine housing 2 in order to be set down immediately afterwards due tothe force of gravity or after further transport via additional conveyingelements known per se (not illustrated) are passed on and later setdown.

It is evident from FIGS. 2 and 3 that the scraper means 9 is pivotallymounted via a pivot bearing 10 on an upper spoke 11 of the knifeprotection ring 5 in an undetachable manner. The pivoting movement ofthe scraper means 9 takes place via a pivot axis 30 (FIGS. 3 and 4)which extends above the central axis of the circular knife 3 essentiallyhorizontally and parallel to the cutting plane of the circular knife 3.

In the operating position indicated by solid lines, the scraper means 9is fixed on the knife protection ring 5 in addition via a snap closure12. For the cleaning of the slicing machine, it is manually grasped at ahandle 13 located in the immediate vicinity of the snap closure 12 andpivoted upwards through approximately 180° away from the circular knife3 into the cleaning position 14 (illustrated in FIG. 2 by dash-dotlines), in which it projects upwardly above the circular knife 3 freelyaccessible on all sides.

The center of gravity of the scraper means 3 is thereby pivoted beyondthe vertical of the pivot bearing 10 (e.g., beyond a vertical line whichextends upwardly from the pivot axis 30) into a stable position securedagainst any possible falling back. Moreover, as is still to bedescribed, the friction torque in the pivot bearing 10 is additionallyincreased so that any falling back of the scraper means is alsoprevented in any arbitrary intermediate position within the pivotingrange of preferably at least 180°.

In FIG. 4, an embodiment of the pivot bearing 10 is illustrated, withwhich the additional friction torque is generated by a brake springelement in the shape of a cup spring 16 acting axially in relation to abearing pin 15. Other brake spring elements can also be used, e.g. aflexible plastic brake disk or other resilient elements which actaxially or radially to the pivot bearing 10 and generate the necessarybraking force. The bearing pin 15 is securely connected to the scrapermeans 9 and connected to the upper spoke 11 of the knife protection ring5 via a securing disk 17 and a screw 18 in an undetachable manner. Tocompensate for axial production tolerances and for reasons of wear andtear, a washer 19 is provided. The pivot bearing 10 is covered with anelastic seal 20 for protection against soiling and for the bettercleaning of the slicing machine.

The scraper means 9 and the machine housing 2 are adapted to one anotherin their external shape such that an unhindered pivoting of the scrapermeans 9 is made possible. Moreover, the external shape of the scrapermeans has no corners or the like which are poorly accessible and inwhich remains of products to be cut can become clogged, which makes thecleaning easier.

It is apparent from FIGS. 3 and 5 how the scraper means 9 is fixed inits operating position by means of a groove 21 in the lower part of theknife protection ring 5 and secured with an additional snap closure 12.The snap closure 12 is, in the illustrated embodiment, designed as amagnetic closure means. Alternatively, other types of snap closure arealso conceivable, e.g. locking or snap closures which cause the scrapermeans 9 to be secured in its operating position without any additionalmanual movement. The snap closure 12 consists in the illustratedembodiment of an adhesion magnet 22 secured in the knife protection ring5, a cover disk 23 as corrosion protection for the magnet and anadjusting screw 24 of steel which is attached to the scraper means 9 andis attracted by the magnet 22 in the operating position of the scrapermeans 9.

With the adjusting screw 24, which is sealed by means of an elastic seal25 and a sealing ring 26 and secured against rotation, the scraper means9 can be adjusted to a very small distance in relation to the rotatingcircular knife 3. This is made possible by placing the adjusting screw24 in the immediate vicinity of a scraper lip 27 of the scraper means 9.It is important above all that the scraper lip 27 of the scraper means 9has as small a distance as possible to the circular knife 3 shapedconcavely at this point in order to avoid the drawing in of small cutremains between the two parts and the subsequent uncontrolledcatapulting of these cut remains away from the knife circumference. Assmall a distance to the circular knife 3 as possible has an advantageouseffect as well for the deflector contour 28 of the scraper means 9which, following the circular knife 3, is responsible for the additionaldeflection of the cut slices past the machine housing 2 because thecutting of very thin slices is thereby possible.

We claim:
 1. A slicing machine for foods, comprising:a machine housinghaving upper and lower portions; a base for supporting the machinehousing on a work surface, wherein the lower portion of the machinehousing is closer to the base than the upper portion of the machinehousing; a circular knife with a peripheral cutting edge, said knifebeing rotatingly mounted about a knife axis in a substantially verticalposition on said housing, said knife thereby defining a substantiallyvertical cutting plane; a knife protection ring secured to the machinehousing and surrounding a substantial portion of said cutting edge; acarriage for receiving a product to be cut mounted on said housing onone side of said cutting plane for reciprocating movement in a directionparallel to said cutting plane; a scraper arranged on an opposite sideof said cutting plane to cover part of a face of said circular knife;and a pivot bearing arranged vertically above said knife axis and closerto the upper portion of the machine housing than the lower portion ofthe machine housing, wherein:said pivot bearing defines an essentiallyhorizontal pivot axis; said pivot axis is essentially parallel to saidcutting plane and perpendicular to said knife axis; and said scraper ismounted pivotably about said pivot axis so as to be pivotable from (i)an operating position adjacent to and facing said knife to (ii) acleaning position vertically above and facing away from said knife. 2.The slicing machine of claim 1, wherein said pivot bearing is attachedto an upper part of said knife protection ring.
 3. The slicing machineof claim 1, wherein said pivot bearing comprises a brake spring elementfor providing a friction torque so that, when said scraper is in saidcleaning position, said friction torque prevents said scraper fromfalling back from said cleaning position to any arbitrary intermediateposition within a pivoting range of said scraper.
 4. The slicing machineof claim 1, wherein said scraper is pivotable within its pivoting rangeunhindered by said machine housing.
 5. The slicing machine of claim 1,wherein said scraper is pivotable through an angle of at least 180° fromsaid operating position into said cleaning position.
 6. The slicingmachine of claim 5, wherein a center of gravity of said scraper ispivotable from said operating position into said cleaning position bypivoting past an imaginary vertical line which extends upwardly fromsaid pivot axis, such that, when said scraper is in said cleaningposition, said scraper is prevented from pivoting back past saidimaginary vertical line.
 7. The slicing machine of claim 1, furthercomprising:an adjusting screw for threadedly engaging said scraper; saidadjusting screw having a sealing ring; said adjusting screw facilitatingan adjustment of a distance of said scraper from said circular knifewhen said scraper is in said operating position according to a depth ofthe threaded engagement of said adjusting screw in said scraper.
 8. Theslicing machine of claim 7, wherein said adjusting screw is placed in animmediate vicinity of a scraper lip of said scraper.
 9. The slicingmachine of claim 7, wherein said adjustment of said distance of saidscraper from said circular knife is maintained even when said scraper ispivoted from said operating position to said cleaning position, and backto said operating position.
 10. The slicing machine of claim 7, whereinsaid distance is selected to prevent food cuts from being drawn inbetween said scraper and said cutting knife.
 11. The slicing machine ofclaim 1, wherein said knife protection ring comprises a lower portionhaving a groove, said groove being adapted to receive a portion of saidscraper to secure said scraper in said operating position.
 12. Theslicing machine of claim 11, further comprising a magnetic closure forfixing said portion of said scraper in said groove.
 13. The slicingmachine of claim 11, further comprising a locking closure for fixingsaid portion of said scraper in said groove.
 14. The slicing machine ofclaim 11, further comprising a snap closure for fixing said portion ofsaid scraper in said groove.
 15. The slicing machine of claim 14,wherein said pivot bearing and said snap closure of said scraper areeach protected by an elastic seal.
 16. The slicing machine of claim 14,wherein:said scraper has a handle for carrying out a manual pivotingmovement; and said handle is arranged in an immediate vicinity of saidsnap closure.